TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #630 - Brother Nero & Matt Hardy v The Tribunal

Aired - 11th August 2016

For the first time in four week's TNA aired IMPACT Wrestling live, as Brother Nero and Matt Hardy teamed up to face The Tribunal and Lashley put his World Heavyweight and X-Division Championships up against "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title, but would that produce a great hour and a quarter of television? 

Matt Hardy and Brother Nero [Jeff Hardy] have been all over TNA's product for some time now and their storyline progressed as they teamed up to face The Tribunal (Baron Dax [Marcus Louis] and Basille Baraka [Tom LaRuffa]). Before the bout, there was a tremendously entertaining segment that began with Hardy calling out Nero, as well as planting a seed that he'd had a premonition that Tag Team Champions The Decay (Abyss, Crazzy Steve & Rosemary [Courtney Rush]). As with pretty much anything involving The Hardy Boyz in 2016, it was incredibly watchable and immensly quotable with Nero perhaps outshining Hardy's madness with lines like "Let's talk about last week, why did you bite a part of a man's face off?" and "If I'm a mule, you two [The Tribunal] are miniature donkies". The only let down was that we had to hear the Tribunal talk, with their act boiling down to telling they crowd that they smell and being French. 

The match took on a similar style to that of Hardy & Nero's bout with Chuck Taylor and JT Dunn on #629, with Obsolete Mule doing most of the work, whilst Broken stayed on the outside, for the most part. The most interesting stuff though came on the outside, as Hardy appeared to hypnotise a fan to rip up his pro-Jeff Hardy sign and join him in screaming "Delete! Delete!". It was different, but not out of place from the rest of this bonkers feud. The first story development would see Hardy bite the fingers of The Tribunal's manager, Al Snow, before throwing Dax into the steel steps. We hadn't seen Hardy do anything to aid Nero the previous week, so it was cool to see this change, especially as Nero went on to pick up the win with a Twist of Fate on Baraka. The sinister conclusion as Nero seemed to snap, hitting Dax, Baraka and Snow with numerous Twist of Fates, before hitting a slingshot crossbody to Snow that would put him through a table. I became clear that Nero had joined his brother on the Broken side, as he through himself off the top rope through another table, in a what the fuck did I just watch moment. It's the logical direction for the story to take and with both brothers now Broken it opens up even more storyline possibilities. 

Lashley's dominance continued as he ended "The Cowboy" James Storm's King of the Mountain title reign after just a week, in a bout that also had The Destroyer's World Heavyweight and X Division titles on the line! This was a good show-closer, that had a captive audience from the opening bell. The first spot of the match was a brilliant call back to Storm's 2011 World title win, as he nailed Lashley with a Last Call superkick, but unlike the victory over Kurt Angle, the referee, Brian Hebner, was too busy getting ring announcer, Jeremy Borash out of the ring, resulting in only a two count for Storm. The crowd were so into the moment and those that could remember back to 2011 were at the very least given a nostalgic buzz. It was a shame that it took two or three minutes before commentators Josh Matthews and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero made the connection between the two events, as an on-the-ball commentator would have upped the drama and made the moment even better. 

Both men played their roles well, with Lashley beating the shit into Storm shortly after the start, controlling the bout whilst The Cowboy was a hot and fiery babyface getting a number of hope spots before hitting a lung blower and Eye of the Storm [Spinning crucifix cross] for a near fall. After this though, I feel like the last portion of the bout should have been booked a little tighter than it was, however if this is Storm's final match in TNA (which seems to be the case, as of writing) then having Lashley kick out of two further Last Call's is perhaps a little more understandable, as it gives The Dominator a further rub and makes him look even stronger than before. The finish, however, didn't do a whole lot for me, as Lashley no-selling a codebreaker and hitting a spear, made it even harder to suspend my disbelief, because this didn't make much sense at all. There were ways of putting over Lashley strong in the finish that would have been more effective. However, the match did benefit from not having the interference that has hampered a couple of TNA main events recently.

Lashley and James Storm had been out earlier on as well, in an opening segment that involved Ethan Carter III, "The Miracle" Mike Bennett, Moose and Eddie Edwards. For me, this segment was trying to do way too much at the same time and actually ended up achieving very little across the ten minutes. EC3's initial promo was uncharacteristically lacking direction, treading over ground about searching for perfection and being on a quest to be the best, whilst Lashley came out said he was the best and then Storm interrupted Lashley and chatted about poop whilst his microphone appeared to break. The segment would conclude with Lashley and Storm brawling up the entrance way, whilst EC3 would be jumped from behind by Bennett and Moose, with Edwards making the save, with a tag match being scheduled for later on. 

The debut had been teased for week's and Aron Rex [Damien Sandow] finally made his debut in TNA as he came to the ring to cut a promo. I've got a lot of time for Rex on the microphone, but this speech did next to nothing for me. It was the kind of promo that we've seen numerous times from ex-WWE talents after they've been fired and headed out to TNA. I'm sure that dumb smarks were jerking off to it, because it was semi-shoot talking about how WWE never gave him the right opportunities and how he'd get those opportunities in TNA etc. The fact that the character started the promo by saying he wasn't going to talk about what he went on to talk about was very frustrating. The crowd weirdly chanted "You deserve it", which didn't help the situation. Josh Matthew's saying that it was "shoot" on commentary was just stupid. I'd have preferred Rex to have gone straight into a storyline and to have been debuted in a way that had actual significance or shock value, as this was way too pedestrian and didn't give me any reason to find out what Rex would be up to next. 

The aforementioned Moose & Mike Bennett vs. Eddie Edwards & Ethan Carter III tag contest was a decent opening contest, that featured some cool spots, but could have done with a bit more time. The section which I'd have liked to have seen extended slightly was Bennett & Moose's heater, as Edwards could have done with having a longer time as the face in peril. It would've made more of the franky fantastic hot tag sequence that saw EC3 cleaning house, before both he and Edwards nailed suicide dives in stereo. The heroic duo played the moment perfectly, building towards the dives and making the moment feel special. Edwards would also later pull out a Frankensteiner on Bennett, for another highlight. The finish cleverly built up the fledgling Bennett and Moose unit, as after The Miracle had sent EC3 into the steel steps, Moose would nail Go to Hell (Sitout chokebomb to an opponent seated on a turnbuckle) on Edwards, with Bennett getting the pin. It showed what the two could do when on the same page, but also teased that they might not be on that page for all that long. 

In the only women's action, Gail Kim's quest for a Knockout's Championship shot as she clashed with Marti Bell, in a bout that Maria Kanellis-Bennett had made a No DQ match. Kim and Bell showed potential with an early scrap, but the match quickly descended into an interference-laden affair as the MKB & Kim feud slapped the viewer hard in the face. The First Lady of Wrestling and her apprentice Allie [Cherry Bomb] were out at ringside almost instantly, whilst MKB would send Allie into the ring with Bell's knightstick after a few minutes also. Kim would even get the win after sending Allie and the knightstick into Bell. Despite a nasty looking blockbuster from Kim at one point, I'm pretty certain that if allowed to wrestle for more than two minutes that Kim and Bell would have been able to create some compelling action and used the No DQ gimmick to create some cool spots, with MKB already making the match No DQ then the idea of her putting Kim through hell to earn an opportunity would still have been present, whilst Bell would hardly have been hurt from losing clean to someone who will be inducted into TNA's Hall of Fame in October!

Best of the Rest 

• Drew Galloway [Drew McIntyre] challenged Ethan Carter III to put his World Heavyweight Championship shot at Bound For Glory on the line against him, in a passion in-ring promo, that heigtened the rivalry between the pair as Galloway called EC3 a "snake in the grass". 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.22/10 

This episode wasn't quite as good as the previous week's, but was still a step in the good direction, remaining the right side of average. That's thanks mostly to the show's top two matches, with Hardy & Nero v The Tribunal proving to be the best thing on the show, mainly because I'm in love with "Broken" Matt and the revelation of a "Broken" Nero should prove glorious, whilst Lashley v Storm also featured some good quality action. The only part from the undercard that I felt managed to come close to this level was the Edwards & EC3 v Moose & Bennett tag bout. If Galloway's promo had been a bit longer it would've bump up the score, as well.

It's a shame that the rest of the undercard didn't manage to match these standards, with the opening segment lacking clear direction, Rex's debut being the same old shit and the No DQ bout between Kim and Bell being a bit of a mess. 

The next episode has got a four team Ladder match to decide the #1 Contenders to The Decay's Tag Team titles, so that's gonna be great, yah? 

Words - James Marston 
Banner - Kai Stellar 

TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #629 - Ethan Carter III v Mike Bennett 4

Aired - 4th August 2016

With less than two months until the biggest show of the year, Bound For Glory, Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett battled in the final of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs for a shot at Lashley's World Heavyweight Championship and James Storm got a shot at Eli Drake's King of the Mountain title, but would TNA kick-off August in style? 

With an opportunity to main event the biggest show of the year on the line, TRP's Mike Bennett and Ethan Carter III met in the Final of the Bound for Glory Play-Offs in a good main event. This was a match of two halves for me, with the first part seeing Bennett focus on EC3's injured ribs and the second part featuring interference from Bennett's muscle Moose and Eddie Edwards, as well as Maria Kanellis-Bennett. Both parts have their merits, with the first portion of course being my favourite with some great selling from EC3, especially when delivering moves during the shed-load of hope spots he had, but I have to say that I would've preferred that the two had been meshed together a bit better without feeling like two different bouts. Bennett's near falls towards the end of the match would have been stronger if they'd have involved the injured ribs in some way or another. 

The BFG Play-Offs have been somewhat marred by the high amount of interference, meaning that whilst the match have been fairly entertaining, that no one in particular has been able to stand out or really make the tournament their own. Bennett had previously beaten a Brother Nero who could barely walk and Drew Galloway [Drew McIntyre] after accidental interference from EC3 and out of the two men in the final he was the man who could've benefited the most from a strong showing in the earlier round. EC3 has had four shots at the belt on TV this year already, whilst The Miracle is yet to fight for TNA's main prize. Yes, Bennett is a heel and part of that is getting cheap victories, but there's a different a cheap victory and a lucky victory. Taken in isolation I don't think the overbooking would have bothered me as much as it did produce a number of strong false finishes, one coming off EC3 ducking a singapore cane shot and hitting a One Percenter [Headlock Driver] and another coming from a cane shot and MIP [Samoa Driver] from Bennett. However, in the context of the tournament, I feel that the bout and the entire tournament in general could have been booked a lot cleverer and done more to help the likes of Bennett, Bram and Eli Drake all of whom had yet to hold TNA's top prize. 

In the semi-main, "The Cowboy" James Storm ended Championship Wrestling From Hollywood's Eli Drake's [Shaun Ricker] two month run with the King of the Mountain title in good short bout, that had a number of strong near falls. The action wasn't always the smoothest, but the contest was full of bright ideas like Drake jumping to the top rope to meet Storm for a superplex, that although they could have been performed crisp, were still impressive. There was a good sense of the tension between the two, as they scrapped on the outside before the match, whilst both men bought some fire to their performances throughout. The final stretch called back to their previous encounters on screen with Drake taking a sip of The Cowboy's beer, spitting it indirectly into the referee's eyes, meaning that a school-boy roll-up from Storm was missed by the ref. Moments later Drake nailed a belt shot which made for smashing false finish. It could have gone longer, but Drake and Storm did a good job with the time allocated in what has to be one of the strongest bouts of the King of the Mountain Championships tumultuous history. 

Following the match, there was a segment that arguably should have been held off til the next episode, in which World Heavyweight & X Division Champion Lashley would head to the ring to challenge Storm for a future title for titles bout down the line. The Destroyer isn't the best talker, but can usually do a job with the right material, however the material wasn't great here. He spent most of his time critcising WWE for sending football teams title belts, which seemed like an odd thing to talk about, because I don't remember anyone having much of an opinion on that practice in the first place. It placed the attention on an entirely different company rather than building an upcoming Lashley v Storm bout. Luckily, Storm was on blinding form on the microphone, building a story for the contest on his own, talking about not having a World title shot for years, as well as bringing up his first title win over Kurt Angle in 2011, as he went on to accept the challenge. 

The Hardy saga continued this week as "Broken" Matt Hardy revealed his desire to win the tag titles to Brother Nero [Jeff Hardy] and their road to the belts, currently in the possession of The Decay [Abyss & Crazzy Steve] began. After the promos full of the eccentricities that have made the Broken character such a fun character to watch, Hardy would introduce CHIKARA's Chuck Taylor and Beyond's JT Dunn as Nero's opponent in what was essentially a handicap contest, with instruction that The Obsolete Mule was banned from hitting anything from the top rope. The match got overshadowed somewhat by Hardy's action at ringside as he assaulted a planted fan, pulling him over the guard and biting his face, leaving his mouth covered in blood. It was weird moment, but it certainly made me sit up and take notice. Hardy would eventually take the pin after spending the entire match on the outside, in what became a very silly, yet thoroughly entertaining contest.

The show had begun with a segment involving the two men who would battle in the main event, as Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett took part in an interview with Jeremy Borash. This was mainly put together to add the storyline element to the main event, as Bennett and Moose would eventually assault EC3, where Moose would end up hitting his Go to Hell [Sitout chokebomb to an opponent seated on the top turnbuckle] on EC3. The lead to this featured two strong promos from both men, who fit very well together as characters, with EC3 able to mix some comedy in whilst still getting across his dislike for The Miracle and Bennett always managing to get under the crowd's skin with his attitude. The interaction added an extra layer to the main event, whilst also getting across both men's motivation for the bout clear. 

Gail Kim continued to build her case for a shot at the Knockout's Championship with a victory over the Champion SHINE's Sienna [Allysin Kay] and SHIMMER's Allie [Cherry Bomb] in a handicap bout. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this encounter, as when Maria Kanellis-Bennett announced it I let out a little groan. There were elements of it that I didn't quite warm to, which were mainly the supposedly comedic efforts from Allie based around her being unable to do simple moves like a body slam, however I can see why someone else might have found them funny. What I did like however was the way the story of the bout played out, with the Sienna and Allie odd-ball team, hinging on Sienna's reactions to Allie's outright annoying behaviour. With Sienna reluctant to do any more than the minimum work, this created an interesting story, with Kim doing a stellar job as the underdog babyface. The finish worked well with Kim managing to dodge The Silencer [Running low-angle shoulder block] from AK47, leading to Allie taking the brunt of the move and Kim continuing on her run to earning a shot at the title she lost in April. 

If two handicap matches (Yeah, I'm counting the Hardy Boyz v Taylor & Dunn as a handicap match, because that's what it was) weren't enough for ya, TNA wasn't gonna let you down as Al Snow teamed with duo The Tribunal (WWE's Baron Dax [Marcus Louis] & Basille Baracca [Tom LaRuffa]) to face ICW's Grado and Mahabali Shera. This was a basic contest, that mainly hang on Shera's ability to make a babyface comeback and Dax & Baracca's ability to control the match and cut off the ring. Unfortunately, both weren't done particularly well, with Shera's comeback mainly consisting of scoop slams and no-selling and The Tribunal's heat segment seeing them constantly whip Grado into the side of the ring nearest Shera. A section where Grado and Shera hit some double team moves, including Shera throwing Grado into the Roll n' Slice cannonball, was the highlight of the contest. The finish was a bit of a weird one with Shera blocking a brass knux punch from Snow and hitting his Sky High sitout spinebuster for the victory.  

Best of the Rest 

• Rosemary continued to tell Bram about her childhood in a delipated barn, she told him her boyfriend touched her up there and because like Nia Jax she's not like most girls, she kicked off and went dead dark and shit. Bram told her to get over it, so World Tag Team Champions The Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) turned up and apparently killed him. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.56/10 

I've noticed that this review can probably come across as a bit negative, but I honestly rather enjoyed this episode of IMPACT Wrestling. The two headline bouts were good matches and also had accompanying segments that either set them up the bout or took the storyline in a different direction. Outside of this was an entertaining development in the Hardy saga, including an appearance from one of my favourite indy performers Chuck Taylor. 

The handicap bouts could have been spread out a little, but the only match that I actively disliked was the Grado & Shera v Snow & The Tribunal situation, which failed to capture my attention. 

This was the best episode of IMPACT Wrestling since #626 Destination X, as TNA continues to put out a mostly above average to good television product. With the next episode once again featuring two high profile matches, as Matt Hardy & Brother Nero team up to face The Tribunal and James Storm puts his King of the Mountain Championship on the line against Lashley's World Heavyweight and X Division belts, I'd expect that episode to reach similar levels.

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar